Gregor the Overlander (Underland Chronicles, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Sep 09, 2010 Eh?Eh! rated it really liked it

Shelves: goodreaders-made-me, babble-added

I recently went solo dining with the 2nd book in the series and sat down at a counter, speeding through the large font and well-spaced text. The restaurant started to fill up and another solo diner sat down next to me. I glanced over at his magazine and saw that it was a scientific journal open to an article about the brain. I casually angled the cover of my Scholastic-published book away from his view and kept reading, very self-conscious of the approximately 18 grades of school between our rea I recently went solo dining with the 2nd book in the series and sat down at a counter, speeding through the large font and well-spaced text. The restaurant started to fill up and another solo diner sat down next to me. I glanced over at his magazine and saw that it was a scientific journal open to an article about the brain. I casually angled the cover of my Scholastic-published book away from his view and kept reading, very self-conscious of the approximately 18 grades of school between our reading materials.

Sigh.

I'm bouncing around in my reading material lately. I've been trying to force the weighter books and it's like an overtight pair of jeans. Lay back on the bed, take a deep breath, and hope you can wrestle that zipper up before the oxygen runs out or the button pops off and you lose an eye. The YA and younger books are more like comfortable sweatpants, the waistband slightly stretched and the material over the seat taking on a sheen from wear. I need to take in a few sweatpants books before attempting another jeans book. Who am I trying to impress? No need to do the David Hasselhoff on Baywatch stomach suck.

This is what I repeat to myself when I sit next to someone reading a scientific journal open to an article about the brain...you couldn't sit somewhere else, brain guy???

The beginning of the 2nd book helped me pinpoint why I liked this 1st book so much. With the next in the series, Gregor is suddenly having these abilities he never had before. Booooo. The first book moved forward with his own average self, no special powers needed. While he may have been written as more selfless than the typical boy his age, he made mistakes and was cranky like a real boy. When he was courageous, loyal, loving, or expressed empathy, it wasn't unusual - it could be duplicated by any child who read this book. The value of that! You too can be like this!:

[Gregor]* nodded. He could never hate people very long because he always ended up finding out something sad about them that he had to factor in. Like this kid at school everybody hated because he was always pushing little kids around and then one day they found out his dad had hit him so much, he was in the hospital. With stuff like that, all Gregor could feel was bad.

Wonderful.

Oh, the story was set in this quest for his father with a fantastic imaginary world underground featuring people who had lived there so long that they were pale-haired, translucent-skinned, and violet-eyed. The allies and enemies were gigantic bats, cockroaches, and rats. This is meant for a younger audience than The Hunger Games trilogy, so probably elementary age. The quest kicked off with an awful set of prophetic verse (not as bad as Brian "One Trick Pony" Jacques but nowhere near the soaring glory (to me) of Susan Cooper). The ending was rushed. But I loved it for keeping the hero ordinary.

My favorite line? From my favorite character, the little sister, Boots: "I poop!"

*Lookie! The square brackets don't insert a colon anymore! ...more

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Dec 06, 2009 karen rated it liked it

Shelves: why-yes-i-ya, kiddiwinx

so this is how superweak my life is: on friday i rushed home from work in the rain to get some homework done. whee... but then i ended up writing that wuthering heights review, inspired by the rain and the clouds etc. and i did some work, but not a ton. and i thought to myself, what do i really want to be doing? and the answer was - put on my pajamas, eat peanut butter pretzels and read unchallenging children's books. so i did. and you can all suck it, with your parties and balls and galas. 'cuz so this is how superweak my life is: on friday i rushed home from work in the rain to get some homework done. whee... but then i ended up writing that wuthering heights review, inspired by the rain and the clouds etc. and i did some work, but not a ton. and i thought to myself, what do i really want to be doing? and the answer was - put on my pajamas, eat peanut butter pretzels and read unchallenging children's books. so i did. and you can all suck it, with your parties and balls and galas. 'cuz i had myself a nice time.

i didn't like it as much as the hunger games; which is teen fiction, not juvie, so maybe i'm not as developmentally stunted as i thought. look, i'm growing up before your eyes! she has a real knack for pacing, which is way more important in children's literature than adult, just because of attention-span, particularly now, when the options for children are increasingly electronic and faster-paced - a book really has to capture the imagination in order to hold a child's attention, and i think this does a good job of that. i also appreciate her very low emphasis on sentimentality. it is less pronounced than in the hunger games, because of the younger audience, but it's an adventure book, life's hard, things die. and i think that's a good element in children's literature; her lack of prettifying realities. i will probably read the other books in the series, providing my social life doesn't improve, but i don't feel the same urgency to read them that i do for the teen series. it may be the subject matter/younger audience thing, or the lack of a true "cliffhanger" at the end of the book, but i probably will get to them. it was enjoyable, and if you have children, you should probably pick these up and pretend you are reading them together because your kids enjoy them.

and now i can give greg back his copy, and that gets one more book out of my house. which means there's room for one more book, basically. this is how the problem exacerbates...

come to my blog! ...more

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May 05, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: nyc, fantasy-and-sci-fi, children-s, tween, read-aloud, underground

This is a rollicking fantasy adventure for the younger reader, but its setting in the damp and dark and fetid Underworld made it not quite as appealing as one would wish. When I had to set it down, it took me a good long while to pick it up again.

A somewhat random confluence of events lead to me reading this book aloud to my kids (ages 11 & 8) ... We were at the library this weekend and they were messing around with something in the Children's section and I didn't have a book to read, so .... I This is a rollicking fantasy adventure for the younger reader, but its setting in the damp and dark and fetid Underworld made it not quite as appealing as one would wish. When I had to set it down, it took me a good long while to pick it up again.

A somewhat random confluence of events lead to me reading this book aloud to my kids (ages 11 & 8) ... We were at the library this weekend and they were messing around with something in the Children's section and I didn't have a book to read, so .... I went and picked up Gregor. But then we became busy and I didn't have a chance to open it. I checked it out, took it home, and promptly forgot we had it. Then yesterday someone posted on Facebook about reading aloud to your kids, and I thought: "yeah I should start doing that again!" I thought about various books (we could finish Wrinkle in Time, or start on the Narnia books, or maybe even try Hunger Games ...). And then, that evening, out of the blue, at bedtime my 8 year old got into bed and said, "read me a story, Mommy." It's been a while since she's asked that, and I don't know if she really thought I'd follow through, but I dug into our library bag to see what we had, thinking maybe I'd picked up a picture book recently, something short ... And I found Gregor the Overlander in the bag! I started reading. A few pages in and my 11 year old set down her iPad and joined us. We all wanted to keep going at the end of Chapter 1, but it was late, so I set it down, and can't wait to pick it up.again.

It's just delightful!

There are a lot of themes that remind me of other children's classics. The mysteriously missing Dad = A Wrinkle in Time. Annoying but beloved little sibling = Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing; And , Superfudge. Summer in the hot city = Come On, Rain! (granted, this is not really a "classic" and perhaps only resonates for me). And, of course, falling down a hole to another world = Alice In Wonderland. But Ms Collins mixes them all up in an appealing way that feels fresh, not derivative.

*

Eventually, my library loan ran out, and a year went by (or longer) and I had so many other books to read first .... So here I am in October 2015 returning to finish this book. My kids are 12 & 9 now, and they're going to have to read it on their own because I'm reading the e-book by myself during my lunch break. I left off somewhere in Chapter 15, so I'm picking up at the beginning of Chapter 15.

The non-stop action continues until the penultimate chapter. It is very appealing to see Regular Boy, Gregor, take charge and succeed. He is brave because he has no choice, he leads the group when no one else can, he risks his life for his sister, it's all nicely uplifting. ...more

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May 19, 2012 Maria Elmvang rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars, childrens, 2019, 2012, fantasy, owned-audiobook, 2016

Very sweet story about a boy on an unusual quest to find his father. It was a fun 'read', and the narrator (Paul Boehmer) did an excellent job reading it. I fell completely in love with Boots and loved seeing her interact with the various characters of the Underland. She was absolutely adorable :)

The plot itself isn't anything out of the ordinary, but it's well-written and entertaining. ...more

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Jul 24, 2007 Jen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kids, fantasy_and_magic

This is the greatest series since HP. Gregor is 11, and he and his sister, Boots, 2, fall through a laundry chute into the "underland" where giant bats, rats, cockroaches, and underground humans face adventure after adventure. The great thing about this series is that no matter what happens with Gregor, he always has to take care of his sister. ...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Malina rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, kids

I listened to this on CD and really enjoyed it. It is interesting to hear the author talk about where the idea came from. I liked the characters and felt like it had a good story with a good message. Totally recommend.

I have read this book several times now and really like it. It is classic.

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Jun 04, 2008 Grillables rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-fantasy, childrens

Entertaining, despite what seemed like a rather predictable plot line (for this adult, anyway) and a few flatfooted lines. Some amusing touches, a fairly realistic portrayal of a two year old, and - for those who like it - the first in a series.

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